Gastrointestinal motility and gastric tube feeding in mechanically ventilated patients

These data suggest that morphine administration affects antroduodenal motility in mechanically ventilated patients. The gastrointestinal motor pattern involved in impaired gastric emptying in morphine-treated patients is characterized by antral hypomotility and persisting duodenal activity fronts during continuous intragastric feeding. The observed motility patterns suggest that early administration of enteral feeding might be more effective into the duodenum or jejunum than into the stomach of mechanically ventilated patients.